


Our Own Little World

by fallofthereichenbach



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-20 13:01:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6006993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallofthereichenbach/pseuds/fallofthereichenbach
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Halfway through February in San Francisco, several brutal murders have been carried out</p>
<p>Sam and Dean Winchester are all set to go check it out, but when suddenly Sam falls ill, Dean and Castiel are left to go fight whatever monster is causing it</p>
<p>What could possibly go wrong (or right)?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Our Own Little World

**Author's Note:**

> Set at some point in season 9 when Cas is human and staying at the bunker
> 
> As always this is pretty shit and badly planned oops

"Sam, are you nearly ready?"

It was 7am on a Friday morning, and a yawning Dean stood outside Sam's room, waiting for him to finish packing. They were going off to San Francisco for the weekend to check out a case. Three couples had been brutally murdered inside the same locked room of the same hotel over the last month - lovely.

Dean sighed, rolled his eyes and checked his watch.

"Sam, how long exactly does it take to brush your goddamn hair? ... I'm coming in, make sure you're decent."

He pushed open the door, to find his brother lying passed out on the floor.

 

-

 

"You're not coming on the hunt, you're sick!"

"I'll be better once I've slept more, and I can rest in the car on the way there."

"Dean's right, Sam," Cas chimed in, "If I could I would heal you, but... I can't, so you need to rest. You wouldn't be able to hunt like this, anyway. Don't worry, Dean and I will go check it out."

Dean looked reluctant to agree, but when Sam nodded glumly, he had no choice. He settled Sam down on one of the ratty sofas, helped Cas pack the few things he'd need for the weekend, then they piled it into the Impala and prepared to set off.

"Hey, Dean," Sam called over to him while he was searching the library for relevant books on the lore that he might need.

"What?"

"Y'know, Sunday's Valentine's Day."

"So?"

"You gonna take Cas out for a nice meal out in the town, maybe go see a movie?"

"Shut your face. Just 'cause you get a weekend break, don't lord it over the rest of us."

Sam grinned at his brother, who rolled his eyes and ignored him.

 

-

 

Dean climbed into the car and slammed the door. Cas followed suit, and he started the engine and they drove off into the late morning rain.

"You ever been to San Fran before, Cas?"

He looked over at him; Cas was staring out of the window at the water pouring from the sky, and he seemed a million miles away. Dean wondered if he was remembering the days where he could flap his wings and appear wherever he wanted, and felt a needle of sorrow for the guy. It must suck to suddenly be thrown into the stinking depths of humanity.

"No, is it nice?"

"It's pretty cool. There's a really awesome burger place that we absolutely have to go to, okay? It's the highlight of the trip every time I come here."

"Then I'm sure it'll be lovely. So, what's the case again?"

"Three couples in three weeks. They check in to the Beachside Bed & Breakfast, and wake up in the morning with their hearts missing. Always the same room, number 221."

"So. are you thinking werewolf?"

"I would be thinking that, yes, except the rooms were locked from the inside. Local police are baffled."

"So, are we turning up as the FBI?"

"Well... I actually thought we'd take a different approach."

 

-

 

"Hi, we'd like to stay in one of your rooms?"

"Do you have a reservation?" The young receptionist looked at him over her wide glasses. Dean put on his most charming smile, and decided to flirt his way into it. He and Cas had both agreed that he'd do the talking.

"Not exactly. We've been travelling for a while, and we just wanted somewhere to stay for a few nights. And then this beautiful place caught our eyes - do you own it?" He grinned at her, and put on his most pleasant, airy, un-Dean-like voice. She blushed a little.

"It's run by my father."

"Oh, a family business. How charming. Look, I know we don't have a reservation, but could you maybe... squeeze us in somewhere?"

She typed a little on her computer, and smiled at Dean.

"Well, we do have a few rooms going free," she looked from him to Cas and back again, and looked as though she was about to say something that she didn't want to, "Are you and him... Together?"

"I'm sorry?"

The receptionist rushed on.

"It's just, we have a special deal running for couples at the moment, it being Valentine's weekend and all. If you're a couple, you stay for half the price."

Dean thought for a second, and exchanged a glance with Cas, hoping to give a silent apology. Then he twined their fingers together very obviously. He gave a smile to the receptionist that he hoped would come off as cute and nervous and awkward.

"Sorry, we're... not used to telling people," Dean said softly, trying to ignore how weird it felt to be holding Cas' rough but surprisingly warm hand.

"Oh, that's so sweet!" Cooed the receptionist, with a smile that looked like it didn't know quite what it was doing on her face, "We have a few rooms available for couples at the moment - and if you would like, for a little extra expense, we can have them specially decorated in a romantic, Valentine's-themed way?"

"That won't be necessary," Dean hastened to say, "Um, I do have a favour to ask, though..."

"Yes?" The receptionist not-so-subtley checked the time before looking back at Dean.

"We were wondering, if possibly we could stay in room 221?"

A shadow seemed to pass over the girl's face. She knew, of course, what had been going on in that room.

"But sir," she seemed to be unsure of how to word what she wanted to say, "That room was only... vacated one and a half weeks ago."

"But I read up on this hotel in the newspaper. An awful tragedy that occurred of course, but it did say that the room was up and running and back to business. And it just seems like the perfect place to stay; ocean view, double bed, and all that."

"I just think it would be a tad... Inappropriate? And after all that happened there, surely you can't... want to stay in that room specifically?"

Dean awkwardly leaned in.

"My boyfriend loves ghost stories and murder mysteries, and I just want to make this weekend special for him, y'know?" 

He didn't know if that was a thing that people did, referring to their significant other as 'my boyfriend', and it felt way too strange to say it about Cas. But the receptionist's face softened a little, and she checked something quickly on her computer.

"How many nights will you be staying?"

"Two please."

She handed them two key cards, and directed them up the stairs and to the right. Dean tugged gently Cas away from the desk, and they picked up their bags. They only stopped holding hands reluctantly once they reached the staircase.

 

-

 

"So I guess this is it," said Dean as they walked into the room. It was very classic seaside bed and breakfast. Desk, TV, big windows, en suite bathroom... double bed. But Dean was trying not to think about that for now.

"The room where 3 couples so far have lost their hearts," finished Cas poetically. Dean didn't like the 'so far' part.

"Let's hope we solve this case before tonight, eh Cas?"

"Yeah."

They dumped their stuff on either side of the bed, with a gap the size of the Sahara desert in the middle. Dean had a quick poke around, opened some closets and checked out the bathroom. He found nothing, of course, and clearly neither had the police. Dean powered up his laptop, as Cas started to leaf through some of the books they'd brought, looking for any kind of clue as to what they might be hunting.

 

-

 

"Hey, get this," Dean was sat at the desk on his computer, and Cas was curled up on the end on the bed. They'd sat in silence like that for hours - it was now about 3pm, and Dean had had a breakthrough.

"What?" Asked Cas hoarsely.

"This isn't the first time Beachside Bed & Breakfast has been linked to death. In 1985, a newly-wed 20 year old named Ellie Parker committed suicide in one of the rooms, after finding out her husband had been cheating on her."

"Okay...?"

"The husband's name? James Parker, the first victim of the murders. Cas, it's a vengeful spirit!"

Dean banged his hand triumphantly on the desk, and stood up. Cas snapped the book shut, and excitedly leapt up off the bed.

"So it's a ghost that's been doing the murders?"

"Apparently so! Right, you know the next step from here Cas?"

"... Salt and burn the body!"

"Yep! Let's put a stop to this mopey motherfucker."

They raced downstairs, barely remembering to act normal in front of the receptionist. Dean put his arm round Cas' shoulders at the last minute, and then they shot out of the doors and into the car.

It was always the same, that adrenaline rush Dean got when he was close to having finished a hunt. It wasn't a good time unless he could kill some son of a bitch and maybe save some people.

"I don't really get it, Dean," Cas' voice cut through his musings as they sped towards the graveyard.

"Get what?"

"Why did the ghost wait so long to get it's revenge? And why did it kill those two other couples?"

Dean thought for a moment, before coming up with a hypothesis.

"Maybe she was waiting for her ex husband to be in the same place that she had died in. She wanted him to suffer, after everything he put her through. So she laid in wait for him to arrive, and as she waited her mind and soul started to get twisted. That's what happens to vengeful spirits if they stick around for long enough. Once she'd killed her husband, she probably decided that she liked killing people. Maybe she was jealous of the happy couples staying in the room that brought her so much pain. I think it makes sense, to an extent."

Cas nodded, but he still seemed confused.

"There's so much I don't understand about humans. I thought that now that I am one, I'd understand it more. But it just seems even more strange. Love and gender and money and brushing your teeth and keeping certain animals in your home but killing others... It's all so odd."

"Humans are weird creatures," Dean shrugged, "I mean, think about what's going on at the moment. Valentine's Day. What a load of bullshit. Maybe the original premise was sweet, but it's just become a marketing holiday for companies to sell manufactured 'love' and cheap chocolates. The idea of love has become commercialised, which is a really weird concept."

"Have you ever been in love, Dean?"

Dean was surprised at the upfront and unexpected question. He looked over at his friend, and was greeted by those bright blue eyes staring at him so intently that he nearly swerved and crashed the car. They were the blue of oceans and skies and mountains and galaxies, and they were so bright and so kind. They were pure light and electricity and they sent shivers down Dean's spine and no,

"No, I've never really been in love before. I'm too busy hunting, really," Dean brushed off the question, tried to manipulate it into the form of a joke, "Have you?"

Cas considered it for some time, before responding.

"I think so."

Before Dean could fathom a reply, they were swerving into the car park of the graveyard. They hopped out of the car, and Dean took two shovels from the trunk.

 

-

 

"Here."

They'd barely been walking for two minutes before they found Ellie Parker's grave. Someone had come along recently and put fresh flowers on it, lilies. In the late afternoon sun, they seemed to be wilting already.

They dug for an hour or so in silence before they reached her coffin. Opened it up to see her cold remains, poured a ton of salt all over and struck a match.

 

-

 

The journey back to the hotel was quiet; Cas had fallen asleep. He looked so peaceful that Dean could hardly bear the thought of waking him. This was probably the only time he could forget about all that had happened. Maybe he dreamt about the days when he was still an angel.

But when they started to pass restaurants and Dean's stomach was rumbling, he didn't have much of a choice.

"Cas," he said quietly, "Are you hungry?"

Cas nodded, but didn't open his eyes.

"Do you want to stop at a restaurant?"

Cas shook his head.

"Do you want to get room service?"

Cas nodded again, and Dean left it at that.

 

-

 

They spent the evening doing the usual thing: Cas mainly reading, Dean on his laptop. He called Sam to check up on him, and informed him about the case. Around 7pm, they ordered some room service and ate it in front of some random tv show.

Around 11:30pm, Dean announced that he was turning in for the night. It had been a long day, and he was incredibly tired.

Dean got into one side of the bed, fully clothed and exhausted from the days events. A few minutes later, Cas climbed into the other side of the bed, also fully clothed and exhausted. They agreed to keep the light on for a while. Dean started off facing away toward the window, but after a while once he was fairly sure that Cas would be asleep, he turned around to face him.

Except Cas wasn't asleep yet.

Except Cas was staring at him.

They looked at each other for seconds, or minutes, or hours, Dean couldn't decide which. Green eyes were locked inescapably onto blue. A thousand words were spoken in that time. It was more intimate than the closest embrace, more warm than the sweetest kiss.

"Dean, I-"

And then the lights flickered once and switched off completely.

Dean scrambled for his phone to use it as a flashlight. Funny - it was exactly midnight. It's always exactly midnight in ghost stories.

He turned the beam from his phone all around the room, and... There was nothing. It was exactly as it had been in the light, only it was dark.

"Do you have a gun?" Whispered Cas from the darkness, and Dean suddenly noticed that their hands had found each other under the covers.

"Loaded with rock salt in my bag. And I have more salt with me."

"I think you should maybe get it out of your bag," murmured Cas. Dean wasn't exactly sure why they were being so quiet, but he wasn't going to be the one to break the near silence. 

He reached over the side of the bed, and took perhaps thirty seconds to retrieve his gun. When he was just coming up again, he heard a sharp intake of breath from next to him.

"Dean-!" All attempts at whispering were abandoned. Dean sat up so fast he nearly got whiplash, and stared straight into the eyes of the monster in front of them.

Standing in the middle of the room was the silvery image of a woman. Young, in her mid-twenties. Dark hair scraped into a ponytail, a flowing dress dripping from her thin body. Her wrists held suspended droplets of blood, and a dark line ran beneath her hand like a bracelet.

"Ellie Parker," Dean said aloud. He was afraid yes, but it was more adrenaline and confusion than anything else.

"You... did this... to me," she said, in a scratchy voice that grated on the ears like nails on a chalkboard.

"No we didn't, Ellie. That was your husband, 31 years ago. But you got your revenge on your husband last month. You killed him, and his new wife. Then you killed two other couples, but you don't need to kill us too. Me and Dean, we're not a couple, we just said that to get half price on the room," Cas talked quickly but gently, and if the ghost hadn't been thirsty for their blood then Dean would have been very surprised that it still continued.

"It was... your fault... you and her, James... I will have my revenge... I hid my heart where no one'll find it... until the time is right... I will have my revenge... I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!"

She moved towards the bed, dragging her feet and dripping the blood from her wrists. Before she could get too close, Dean pumped her quickly with rock salt. Her ghostly form disintegrated, but they knew she wouldn't be gone for long.

"Dean, what do we do? Why is she still here?"

"I don't know. But I need you to salt the window and doors, and I'll put a circle on the bed."

Cas grabbed the jar of salt, and ran to the door. He salted it, and ran to the window. 

"Cas, look out!" Dean yelled from the bed. Cas turned round, and was greeted by Ellie Parker's ghostly grin and thin fingers reaching out towards his chest...

Dean shot her in the head, and Cas sprinted back onto the bed, barely noticing as Dean's warm hands pulled him close beside him.

"Okay, we have two options right now. 1: we stay here and wait for the night to pass, salting her every time she appears. She's likely to only stay until the sun rises. 2: we wait it out in the Impala. I think there's something tying her to this room, so she shouldn't be able to follow us."

"I think option 2 sounds pretty good!"

"I'm inclined to agree with you."

They waited until she appeared once more, shot her again, and then made a run for it. Locking the door behind them, they damn near ran out of the B&B, Dean only just remembering to put his gun away before they reached the reception area.

 

-

 

"So why do you think she was still there?"

"There's obviously something still tying her to the room, like a possession or something, so when we burnt her body it wouldn't have stopped her."

They thought for a while, and Cas looked up at the window of their room, where the grey face of Ellie Parker lurked, staring down at them. She had been at the window ever since they had climbed into the dark Impala over an hour ago. 

They were leaning against each other in the front of the car, far closer together than they would have usually been comfortable with. Neither wanted to admit that they were scared. Even though both should have been used to the situation by now, Dean especially, it felt different now. It felt like they had more to lose.

"What was it she said? 'I hid my heart where no one'll find it'? Maybe that's what's tying her to the room."

"You think she cut out her own heart and hid it?" asked Dean incredulously.

"No, I think she left something important to her in the room so that she'd come back as a ghost and she could have revenge on James and his wife that way."

"Wow, a self-aware ghost. But surely the authorities would have found it when they searched the room after her suicide and the three double-murders that followed?"

"They probably wouldn't have been looking for something like that. I don't know, but we need to get into that room and search it. Thoroughly."

"Well, we can't do that while Little Miss Cranky's waiting for us," Dean says, and Cas gave a small smile, "I say we sleep in shifts. I'll take the first watch."

"I don't think I can sleep, Dean."

"Trust me, it's surprisingly easy. Just take some deep breaths and think about one of those boring lore books you were reading, and you'll be out like a light."

And it only took ten or so minutes for Cas to be leaning against Dean's shoulder and gently snoring.

Dean didn't have the heart to wake him up to do his turn of keeping watch.

 

-

 

When the sun's morning rays passed over the window at 7am, Ellie Parker seemed to melt away from view. Dean gently shook Cas awake.

"Cas? She's gone."

Cas opened his blue eyes and sat up.

"Let's rock and roll," he said in his cute croaky morning voice. Dean did a weird laugh-eye roll combo, and climbed numbly out of the car.

 

-

 

"Is she definitely gone, d'you think?" Cas shuffled nervously from foot to foot as they stood outside the room.

"There's only one way to find out," Dean grinned, and pushed open the door.

The room was as it was when they had left it; salt spread clumsily on the bed, lines of salt undisturbed on the window. Bags on the floor, Dean's computer on the desk.

"Right let's tear this place apart. First one to find the heart doesn't have to pay for lunch."

 

-

 

They searched for hours, before finally there was something.

"Dean," was all Cas needed to say before he felt the warm body beside him.

Cas had pulled the cupboard away from the wall, and behind it was a hole, covered over with tape and painted the wrong shade of cream.

"Bingo," muttered Dean, and together they cut thought the tape, to reveal a small hole in the wall. They exchanged glances, and Dean started to reach into it.

"Be careful!" blurted Cas. Dean withdrew his hand slightly, and grinned at him.

"What, d'you think there's a ghost the size of a pencil in there waiting to rip out my heart?"

"Just... be careful."

Dean rolled his eyes, and reached inside. Cas held his breath. He slowly pulled out a small wooden box that was about the size of an a5 sheet of paper.

The pair sat back, and looked at one another.

"Open it, then," said Cas when he couldn't bear the tension. Dean undid the latch, and opened the lid.

Inside was... a card. One of those red Valentine's day cards, in the shape of a heart. 'You've taken my heart!' Was the cheesy message printed across the front in black. Inside, it read: 

'Dear my Ellie,  
Happy Valentine's Day!  
Lots and lots of love,  
James'

Neither of them knew how long they sat there, just staring at the card. 

"She hid her heart where no one would find it," said Cas without thinking. Dean just looked at him.

 

-

 

They dug up Ellie Parker's coffin again, threw the box and card inside and set fire to it once again. Whilst it was burning, Cas swore he could hear a whisper that sounded something like "I have had my revenge".

"Do you think it's really over now?"

"I think so."

In the cold February sunlight, the two laced their fingers together once again, for reasons that neither could quite explain.

 

-

 

"I almost don't want to go to sleep," Cas admitted, as they climbed into the bed once more. They had both agreed to stick around for the night, to make sure Ellie didn't return. But now that night had fallen, Cas was starting to regret it.

"Midnight is in..." Dean checked the time, "Half an hour. Let's wait until then, and then we'll know if she's gone or not.

"Good idea," Cas said gratefully.

And so they sat, neither quite daring to say what was on their minds. They watched the time counting down towards 12. Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock...

Until, finally finally finally the clock reached midnight. They simultaneously held their breath, until suddenly it was 12:01am and the lights were still on and the room was silent and they were still the only two people in there.

"It over," Dean let out a shaky breath, and before he could react, Cas was pulling him into a fierce hug. They clung together, laughing.

"Humans are fucking weird," Cas grinned into Dean's hair.

 

-

 

Sunlight streamed through the curtains. It was approaching midday as Dean's eyes lazily opened. He became aware of one thing at a time: the way the light from outside danced across the walls; the way there was a tray of toast and a pot of coffee and two mugs on the bedside table; the warm body lying next to him with it's arm across his chest. Only a few layers of clothes seperated them.

Cas was fast asleep.

Until suddenly he wasn't.

"Dean?"

Aware that he had been staring at Cas' fluffy morning hair and the rise and fall of his chest, Dean looked away.

"They left us breakfast, we slept through it."

"I don't think I've ever slept for so long since I became human."

"Me neither."

They laughed softly, and their bodies remained entwined and twisted together. They lay like that, each lost in their own heads, for too long to count.

"I was thinking we'd drive home later, and on the way we'd stop at that burger place I mentioned. Seriously, it's amazing you have to try it."

"Sounds good."

 

-

 

"Can I have two bacon cheeseburgers, please?"

The waiter at the till nodded, chewing gum obnoxiously.

"Eat in or take away?"

"Take away, please."

"That'll be $15 then."

Dean handed over the money, and waited. His eyes wandered outside, to the Impala where Cas was sitting. It was about 6pm, and the sun was turning the sky orange. 

The waiter handed over the packages of food, and Dean took them quickly before breezing out of the restaurant and over to the car.

"Did you get them?"

"Two bacon cheeseburgers, the best you'll ever taste." 

"Do we eat them here, then?"

"Of course not. We drive, and there's a parking lot a few miles away that has a view of the sea. We sit on top of the car, we eat the burgers, and we drink some beer."

"Sounds like a plan."

 

-

 

"I think that was quite possibly the best thing I have ever eaten in my life."

"I know right? I have this same burger every single time I come here, and it never fails to amaze me. Sam hates it, though."

"Well, that's Sam. I think he prefers salad."

They were sat, as Dean had promised, on the front of the car, with their legs spread out down the bonnet and bottles of beer at their sides. The sea stretched out in front of them, and the sky had been painted with a thousand different pinks and oranges and goldens.

Dean thought for a few moments, before resting down his beer and turning to face Cas.

"Y'know, most of my Valentine's days have been spent in some dark bar, trying to pick up as many girls as I can."

Cas looked down at his empty burger wrapper, and brought the bottle up to his lips for something to do. He wasn't yet used to the way beer felt like fire down his throat, or the way it burned away emotion a little. But it was a nice feeling.

"But I think this is the best Valentine's day I have ever had."

Cas looked up quickly, surprised. Dean was looking far away at the horizon, thinking. Cas knew better than to interrupt.

"You asked me if I'd ever been in love," Dean continued after a while, "And I still stand by what I said. I don't think I've ever known what love is; it's always been the same, just picking up whichever girl will go home with me at the end of the night. But maybe now I'm wondering if I've been a bit blind. Maybe now I'm finally noticing the way that I... feel."

"The way I feel about you, Cas. Because I don't think I've ever been in love, but now I'm sitting on the roof of my car watching the sun go down with you, and I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing or anywhere I'd rather be or anyone I'd rather be with. And... And I really think I love you, Cas."

Cas' mins was racing, his head felt dizzy. He needed to have the perfect answer, the perfect way to express how he felt.

And so he pressed their lips together in a soft, warm embrace.

"Happy Valentine's day, Dean."

 

-

 

They got back to the bunker at night, and Sam was sat up on the sofa, reading.

"How was it?" He asked Dean, as Cas took their things upstairs.

"Pretty good. Nearly died, but pretty good," Dean turned away to go upstairs.

"So, you and Cas are a thing now then?"

Dean nearly choked on thin air as he wheeled round to look at his brother's shit-eating grin.

"W-what?"

"Don't try and play all innocent. I'm your brother, I see the way you look at him."

Dean narrowed his eyes at Sam.

"You weren't really sick, were you?"

"Nope. You can thank me whenever you like."

Dean rolled his eyes and stalked away, followed by the echoes of Sam's laughter. Not that he really cared: he was going to see Cas.

**Author's Note:**

> Roses are red  
> Violets are blue  
> Asexual and aromantic people  
> Do exist too
> 
> Happy Valentine's Day!


End file.
